Fishwhittler

Very nice work as always! The Iced Shad and Fatal Natural Shad patterns look absolutely deadly.

If your spool tension knob is set properly, it sounds to me like your spool shims are shot. If that's the case, you'll need to replace the shims; you may be able to find a retailer that carries parts, but your best bet is probably to contact the company for purchasing parts.

Very nice baits Big M! I really dig the body style on the top bait.

Thanks guys! I took the swimbait out for a swim the other day, and it works fine (I even caught a couple bass on it!). The swimming motion is roughly what you'd get if you take a soft plastic paddle-tail swimbait and make the action three times as pronounced. I'm very pleased with this prototype, and now that I know the concept works I think I'll do some more experimenting. Tight lines! Ben

Hey guys, Here are my latest baits. I got a bit burned out and haven't been doing much lure building for several months, but lately I've started to get a few lures put together and I'm getting back into the swing of things. These first two are pretty standard shallow and medium divers. I haven't had much practice airbrushing for a while, so I went with something fairly simple. The third bait is something else. Earlier this year I did very well on soft paddle-tail swim baits, and I got to thinking about it and decided to try to replicate the paddle-tail action in a hard bait. I haven't had a chance to test the finished bait, but it swam fairly well when I tested it pre-assembly, so I think it should work.

Not only that, but the Wal Mart rod racks are also very difficult to remove rods from without knocking the rods against each other. At least they put the racks high enough that little kids can't fence with the rods. I wasn't able to find out much about the TDT when I was looking at purchasing one. No site that carries the T has more than a few reviews at most, and the searches I tried on this forum and others for info on the TDT turned up virtually nothing. The T-series seems to be very much under the radar, which I find a bit surprising considering the TDT is slightly cheaper than the Abu Garcia Vendetta and has a 5-year warranty.

I own a 6'6" M Team Daiwa T, and after fishing it for a couple months I have absolutely no complaints. I don't have any more expensive rods to compare it with, but the rod has plenty of sensitivity. I've been using it with #10 Yo-Zuri Ultra-Soft, and as a plastics rod it does a very good job. I've also used it for throwing paddle-tail swimbaits, cranks, topwaters, spinnerbaits, and even frogs. It handles all of those applications pretty well; admittedly it's a bit on the light side for frogs and it also feels slightly overpowered with big spinnerbaits, but for a medium-power rod that's hardly surprising. Overall, I'd say the TDT is a very good value for the $$, especially when you consider that it comes with a 5-year limited warranty. As far as durability goes, the TDT should be fine as long as you take care of it. That's one reason why I'd steer clear of rods in Wal Mart: a lot of people handle those rods, and in the process they can get banged around. They might not show any damage, but graphite rods can be compromised without any visible cracks and then break at most inopportune times. I'm sure a lot of people buy rods from Wal Mart that last for a long time, but I'd rather not take the chance. I've handled the Jupiter rods in Wal Mart, and it feels fairly decent just from handling it. Going solely by how the Jupiter feels without a reel or line, I'd stick with my TDT. I'm not real big on the telescopic handle on the Jupiter (which is strictly personal preference), but the whole rod just doesn't seem quite as nice as the TDT. The TDT also looks better than the Jupiter.

Very sharp! That's a great looking rod.

No experience with either reel, but I'd go with the Orra simply because it has a metal frame as opposed to the graphite frame on the Caenan.

Looks good to me!

Very nice! Those look like great fish-catchers.

Very nice! The split grip wrapped with mono is awesome.

Very nice! I love the color pattern on the third and fourth baits.

Thanks for the replies! The Powell 705CB was never high on my priority list. I already have a 6'6" MHM glass cranking rod, but since I use cranks as much as I do I was considering getting a more powerful glass rod for heavier baits. However, I don't fish large cranks very much, and my frog rod will do for throwing baits too heavy for my cranking rod. Anyway, I think I'd prefer the added sensitivity of a graphite rod in case I decide to fish soft plastics. I decided to go with the Team Daiwa T 6'6" M/XF. It looks very similar to the Vendetta on paper, but for $10 less I figured I'd give it a shot. Plus the TDT has a 5-year warranty as opposed to the 1-year warranty for the Vendetta, and a long warranty is nice to have. The Shimano Clarus has the longest warranty of any of the rods I looked at, but I don't know if I'd like the reel seat setup. An unlocking BC reel seat sounds good, but there's the possibility of the handle twisting and loosening under pressure. I don't think I want to mess with something like that right now. Thanks for all you guys' input! Ben

Hi guys, I'm looking for some opinions on which of these rods is the best all-around bait casting rod. I'm on a budget, and anything over $100 is out of the question at this time. I would prefer to spend no more than I have to, but I also don't want to skimp and end up with a clunker. The rod will be used primarily with hard baits, including traps, shallow and medium diving cranks, and topwater lures, but it may also be used occasionally with soft baits and spinnerbaits. I'd like the rod to be between 6'6" - 7'6" long, M or MH power, and able to handle down to 1/4oz weights. For reference, the rod will be paired with a Pflueger President WLPL (the old model) spooled with #10 Yo-Zuri Ultra Soft. Here are the rods I'm looking at: Abu Garcia Vendetta Berkley Lightning Shock Daiwa Aird / Team Daiwa T Powell Diesel 723CEF / 705CB Quantum Energy PT / Accurist Shimano Clarus Please post only if you have actual experience with one of the rods on the list. Thanks! Ben

Thought I'd resurrect this thread to add a couple recent bluegills I did: Natural Bluegill Golden Bluegill

Nice! Those are some good-looking baits right there.

If you got your lure from BPS, you purchased the rattling version. BPS has exclusive selling rights to the rattling KVD cranks, which is why you don't see them for sale anywhere else.

I tried putting a casting reel on a spinning rod last night, and it didn't feel awkward at all. Actually, I really liked how it handled, although I'm still not sure how much I'd like it after a day of fishing. Something to think about...

Casting rods with trigger-less reel seats are an interesting concept, and the jury's still out for me on whether they're necessary. The trigger is nice for one-handed casts, but most of the time I use both hands when casting so the trigger isn't really needed. I do like the trigger when palming the reel, but again, I'm not sure it makes much of a difference. I'd suggest you try putting a casting reel on a spinning rod to get a feel for what a trigger-less casting rod feels like. If you like how it handles, you could try grinding off the trigger on a casting rod you don't use much and fishing with it for a day. That way you can decide which reel seat feels the best for you, and whether or not you really need the trigger. If you find that you like using the trigger-less reel seat, the belt sander awaits your casting rods. Tight lines, Ben

Those are some seriously good-looking cranks, especially the first two.

Here's a batch of Bandits and KVDs I recently finished: Tablerock Shad Spring Craw Fleeing Orange-Belly Craw Winter Craw Natural Bluegill RG Bream Sunrise Craw Thanks for looking!